Being with animals, trying to get to know them, figure out what they like and how they feel is something I remember doing for all my life. Horses came into my life when I was 3 years old, and by the age of 14, I managed to convince my mum that saving a troubled pony was the best thing we could do. However, the pony did not feel about it the same way. He was convinced humans were not only useless but dangerous, and he showed me with every inch of his body how he felt. This is where my journey of bodywork and horsemanship began. I started to understand that he was not only troubled but in pain, and I learned many osteopathic techniques to help him, as he would not allow someone else to treat him. As we found our shared passion for cross-country jumping, our bonding became bulletproof. We competed until novice level, and he is now 34 years old and still running around on our farm.
A couple of years later I was starting my new horse while working with Anna Siemer in Luhmühlen,Germany. He had two very different front feet, and when we started to train him on the cross country course he had recurring tendon injuries on the same leg. The injuries were minor, but due to their recurrence, the vets said that he would probably not be suitable for the cross-country sport. While I was happy to ride, compete and learn from many other young horses with Anna, I could not stop hoping to recover him since I could tell he loved it the same as I.
In 2015 I moved to Coventry in the UK. Working and riding with Jodie Amos Eventing at Aston Le Walls I could not resist trying to bring him back to cross country. He was now 9 years old and I had tried many practitioners on him with different approaches and everything I could do myself, but I could not get him more balanced. I knew straightening his body would help but when I asked him to do it he couldn´t, because his body was restricted. I feared that the tension in his right shoulder, which came back after each sort of treatment, would cause the next injury if I tried to jump him again. That is when I came across a Masterson Method® Certified Practitioner. After his first Masterson Method® treatment, something changed in how he walked. I was intrigued, something deep inside him had changed. By combining Masterson Method® Bodywork with the right training his problems were resolved, he finally became straighter, and his front end had suspension. I could compete with him successfully and healthily to novice level.
Working with the Masterson Method® technique brings everything together that I love about working with horses. The depth of change we can achieve by releasing mental and physical tension is matchless for me. It influenced my way of training horses and also my communication with humans. I finally became a certified practitioner in 2020 when I decided working with horses is what I want to do for the rest of my life. If you want to know more about my work with horses, check out centaurinmotion.de.